What were you doing 10 years ago today? You know, before all this stuff. Back when there was no Facebook (yes, there was a time!). No Likes. No Shares. No Friends. (Well, okay, I’ll give you that last one.) Twitter was something birds did. There was no endless scrolling on Pinterest, and no Vine-ing the night away. Remember what life was like back then? Mornings were sure different for many of us. You’d never think of calling up a friend at 7am, interrupting their sleep or their scramble to get the kids out the door just to say hi, commiserate over who won the game last night, or tell them about this really cool video you just saw. But now, we have these early morning conversations with each other on a daily basis. As my friend Andrew would say, these early morning connections are our “new normal”. Think back 20 years, to a time before the 5000 channel universe. When you still knew what time your favourite TV show actually aired. When, if you wanted to talk about the show you were watching, you typically waited till you were around the water cooler at work the next day. Think back 30 or so years, to a time before the world unfolded around you in real-time. Before CNN and channels like it brought us the world in an instant, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When the 6 o’clock news was a destination, and the major broadcasters were our sole source of news, ideas, and commentary. How does thinking about those times make you feel? As you reach for your smart phone yet again, can you even remember what it felt like? Many of us pine away for those so-called simpler times. Those times when we weren’t overloaded with information from all angles, 24 hours a day. When our friends didn’t annoy us with their over-sharing. When we didn’t really know anyone outside our inner circle of family and friends, and we were okay with that. But I don’t long for those days at all. Sure, I do miss a good dial on a rotary phone, but when I do, I have this. 10 years ago, it would have been inconceivable for me to think that I could watch my friends Barry and Jim, both cameramen for major news networks, simultaneously sharing their personal photos from Nelson Mandela’s memorial service on Facebook. But that is exactly what I’m doing this morning. 10 years ago, I’d never heard of Jon, Chris, C.C., Amber, Marc, AJ, Mitch, Geoff, Glenda, and Becky. They’d never heard of me. But (and even though, in the case of AJ, Glenda, and Becky, we’ve never met in person), I cannot imagine my life without these people in it. I am richer because I know them, and I would have never met them if not for our ability to connect through this vast network of pipes and wires. Yes, we live in incredible times. We are connected to the world like never before. Sure, we complain about the always-on nature of today’s world. We stress because our phones and tablets are continually demanding our attention. We sigh in frustration because of trolls and Negative Nellies that cramp our style. But you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Why Extended Digital Breaks May Not Work
Probably three or four times a week I come across articles that talk about how necessary it is to take digital breaks – shutting off devices and online connection for a period of days or weeks. The intent is to disconnect from the 24/7, always-on nature of life in the 21st century, to break some of the bad habits we’ve developed, like mindlessly surfing Facebook or Twitter till the wee hours or shutting out family and friends with the distraction of a tiny, glowing screen. I get it. In some ways, the Web has taken over our lives. Our smart phones now fill the gaps in time while we stand in line at the grocery store, sit in a doctor’s office, or wait for the bus, when previously, we may have spent time talking to someone, or just paying attention to the world around us. We do need a break from time to time, it’s true. However, I think the concept of extended digital breaks may be a little misguided. Shutting off all access to the online world may not be as effective at resetting our brains and our habits as we think. Why? Because even if we decide to disconnect for a day, weekend, week, or more, when we reconnect, we are likely to fall back into the same old habits. It comes down to the reasons we connect. When I consider my own online habits, I can break things down into some basic groups – work, social, and entertainment. Work is work – checking and responding to email or text messages from colleagues and clients, doing research, updating social networks for work purposes, writing and publishing. Work is the stuff I don’t want to do during my down time. Social is talking and sharing with friends and followers via social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and so on. It’s text messages and emails from friends and family. It’s the stuff I want to do when I’m not doing work. Entertainment is pretty much everything else – writing and publishing I do for fun, music, videos, LOLCats, and so on. It’s also stuff I want to do when I’m not doing work. Where the concept of shutting off all online activity breaks down is when we cross the lines between work, social and entertainment. I think that many of us, when we say we want to take a digital break, mostly mean we want to take a break from the stuff that falls into the “work” category. Work is the stuff that we don’t want intruding on our personal time. The fun stuff? We’re okay with that. Every time I’ve tried to take a digital break, I’ve found that it really didn’t help me much. When I connected again, nothing had really changed. My habits were no different. Of course, I am not advocating being connected constantly – if you are, that’s a sign of a bigger issue. But generally speaking, when I need a digital break, it’s because I need a brain break from my work. And often, I head to social and entertainment to recharge. So why would I deny myself the opportunities that connectivity provides me to do that? We don’t need to lock our smart phones in a drawer and unplug our modems. We do need to make sure that we have a healthy balance of connection and disconnection in our lives, and we need to ensure that work doesn’t overtake our need to be social and desire to be entertained. It’s not the fault of the Internet that we’re feeling overwhelmed – it’s ours.
The Medium, The Message and What’s Next
I was thinking the other day about this video ad, called “Best Bus Stop Ever”: It’s a clever concept, really. Do something unexpected and original, catch it all on video, complete with cutaways of people with surprised looks and smiles, throw it up on YouTube, sit back, and wait for millions of people to make it go viral. Easy peasy, right? Well, we all know you can’t make something go viral, but clever ads like this certainly improve the odds. And we’re seeing a lot of companies trying to do similar things – create something fun, original, and shareable, without spending a fortune on production and advertising buys, in the hopes that people will catch onto it and make it take off. Getting millions of eyeballs no longer has to cost millions of dollars, and it certainly has leveled the marketing playing field for many. But there’s a big down side to this approach. As I was thinking about this video, and before I went to watch it again, it occured to me that the only thing I really remembered about the video was that it was funny – a man types a URL that he sees on a bus shelter into his phone, and before you know it there’s a Lamborghini there to pick him up. The part I didn’t recall? What service the ad was promoting or what company the ad was for. Just Because You Have a Camera… You can go out and spend $5000 or more on a fancy video camera, but if you don’t know how to frame up a shot, then your result will be crap. Similarly, you can have the most clever idea in the world, make it go viral on YouTube, but if nobody remembers it was you that did it? Fail. More and more companies are spending hard earned time, talent and money on developing marketing campaigns for the sole purpose of getting eyeballs and going viral. But behind many of those campaigns is actually very little substance. It’s become so easy to publish content now, that marketers seem to want to focus on just becoming popular – without giving much thought to how they are going to be memorable in the long term. This is cause for great concern. In this digital world, we now have a plethora of tools and channels at our disposal that we can use to show the world how creative and clever we are. But the medium only takes us so far. Because if we haven’t got the message nailed, then all of our creative energy, cleverness and uniqueness is for naught.
Win 2 Tickets to Casual Fridays with the NAC Orchestra
Love music? Love food? Live in Ottawa? Then I’ve got something for you! The National Arts Centre here in Ottawa is launching a fantastic new event this week. It’s called “Casual Fridays” and it’s all about combining incredible music, fabulous food and wine, and unwinding after a long week. This new series is a new take on a night out at the symphony. Decidedly un-stuffy, this event is all about bringing together music lovers to relax, socialize and try something new. The evening begins with a social food and drinks hour at 5:45pm. Everyone gets a free drink too (wine or a non-alcoholic beverage)! It’s casual, so you can pop in after work, any time before the show starts at 7, have a nibble and chat with friends or meet new people. The shows promise to be spectacular too, with the first event happening this Friday, November 1st, featuring the NAC Orchestra with special guest, organist Cameron Carpenter. Other events are scheduled for March and June of next year. So, have I got you intrigued? Good! Because I’m giving away two tickets to this Friday’s show. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post telling me why YOU are in need of a night out this Friday, and I’ll draw the winner on Wednesday of this week. For more info on Casual Fridays, check the hashtag #NACOFridays on Facebook and Twitter or visit the web site to get tickets to upcoming shows.
Reduce Your Inputs, Maximize Your Output
Wasn’t life so much simpler a few years ago? Before smart phones and tablets? Back when, in order to check your email, you had to go to a computer (sometimes, one at the office), log in and download? When, if someone wanted to talk to you, they either emailed you or (gasp) phoned you? Think back to a time when you weren’t in the midst of a continuous barrage of information. Remember what it felt like? No notifications to read, no tweets to catch up on, no messages to respond to. Sounds peaceful, doesn’t it? As much as I love to talk about the positive impacts technology has had in our lives, there’s a shady underside too. Our lives are being dominated, for several hours a day when we aren’t sleeping, by inputs. Whether we’re marathoning Season 2 of The Walking Dead, or swiping open our smart phones 10 times an hour, we are consuming information at a frenetic pace – especially compared to how it used to be. Is it healthy? Well, judging by the number of people on a daily basis that I see complaining about how busy they are, how overwhelmed they are, and how they aren’t really getting much of the important work done, I’d say no. So what’s a busy technophile to do? Reduce your inputs. Slow down the stream. Regain control over the messages that are bombarding you, so you can recapture some of that feeling of a simpler time – a time before always-on, always connected. Create some space so you can recapture the part of your brain that has been filled to capacity with information. Here’s how you can start reducing your inputs, today. Get Control of Your Notifications Do you really need to get a ping, a vibrate, or a flashing screen every single time someone’s trying to get your attention. NO! I want you to pick up your smart phone right now. Go into notification settings and turn off EVERYTHING except that which is imperative for your family or work. ALL OF IT. Personally, I have shut off all on screen notifications that don’t directly impact my family or work. My phone doesn’t ding whenever I get an email. I see on screen notifications for emails from the 5 family members and colleagues on my VIP list and that’s it. I see text messages and phone calls, and the occasional tweet from accounts I have to monitor for work. No more. Everything else I leave off, and check only when I have time. I also make extensive use of the Do Not Disturb feature on my iOS devices. If I don’t want to hear from anyone (except my biz partner or family in case of emergency), then I flip to DND mode and live in notification-free bliss. I also have a timer that switches me to DND mode as of 8pm every night and doesn’t switch back on till 8:30am. If you are notified for every little thing that happens, you are being interrupted sometimes dozens of times a day, to deal with what someone else deems important. Try switching off your notifications for a whole day, and see how you survive (hint: you will). Enjoy your productive notification-free bliss! Take a Connectivity Break Some people take technology breaks, where they turn off all their electronic devices for a period of time. I prefer to take connectivity breaks. Why? Because my technology devices are important tools to my creative process. Even if I’m not connected, I still want to have access to certain things – my music, my writing apps, and my e-Reader. So, instead of doing away with technology altogether, instead I just shut off the internet connectivity. The easiest way to do this is to turn off the wifi or switch to airplane mode. But you could also just switch to DND mode so you can still access music streaming etc., without the distraction of notifications. Connectivity breaks are amazing ways to reconnect with the things that are important. Without the deluge of information coming in from all directions, you’ll have a clear space to do some real thinking and real work. Here’s another new habit to form. Instead of checking your phone while standing in line at the grocery store or sitting in a park, keep it in your pocket. Look around, observe and take in the real world for a while. It will do your brain and your soul some good. If you really want to get down to the business of doing the important work, you must find ways to reduce the influx of information. Getting control of how your devices talk to you is the first step. The rest is figuring out what you’re going to do with all that extra time!
Why We Aren’t Ready For a One Screen World
Last night I attended a jam packed Third Tuesday Ottawa, where the ever popular Mitch Joel wowed the crowd with some great insights from his latest book, “Ctrl Alt Delete” (buy yours here, it’s an amazing book!) Anyone who knows me, Mitch included, knows that I’m one of his biggest fans. He’s one of the smartest people I know and I adore him, even though every time I hear him speak or I read his books, it gets by brain working so much that I wind up typing blog posts into my iPhone in bed at 12:50am – this time, because I can’t stop thinking about the one screen world. Mitch’s notion of the “one screen world” is one that I think about and talk to others about often. It’s the idea that even though we live in a world where screens are all around us – giant televisions, laptops, tablets, smart phones – that ultimately, the most important screen is the one we are looking at right now. And as marketers AND as consumers, that has a lot of different implications. Last night, Mitch went on to talk about mobile specifically. He discussed how we shouldn’t be helping people create a digital strategy or a social media strategy or a web site strategy, or even a mobile strategy for that matter. We need to be helping people figure out how they are are going to be effective using these channels that exist to tell their stories (and ultimately, sell stuff) in this new, one screen world. I think Mitch is bang on in this approach to the one screen world. But. It’s one thing to stand up in front of a group of self-proclaimed digital nerds and say these sorts of things and tell us that we have to change with the times or risk being left behind. We get it. We’ve been tweeting and blogging and podcasting and living our lives online together for years. We are old timers. We are the converted, tap tap tapping away into our smart phones and nodding and noodling into the wee hours on this stuff. But we are most definitely not the norm. What is “normal”? The average person I come across in a week is still struggling to understand why their 6 year old web site doesn’t cut it anymore. They are still working to understand how to get their privacy settings right on Facebook (Facebook has privacy settings? Huh?). And Twitter? At least three times a week if not more I’m giving my spiel on the merits of Twitter and the difference between an @reply and a retweet. And that’s just scratching the surface. Throw umpteen other social networks the average person has never heard of in there along with a healthy dose of Dropbox and Google Docs for good measure and it’s a recipe for mass confusion, and overwhelming fear. These “average” people I’m talking about are not idiots. In fact, they are well educated, smart, and informed. They don’t, as some would assume, fall into a particular age group. I’ve had the same conversations with 16 year olds and 60 year olds and everywhere in between. The issue the “average” person has is simply that they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t live in this connected world the same way we do. And, some of them have never even heard of Mitch Joel (gasp)! So, if I walk in and start going on about one screen worlds and hey you people need to get this stuff when they are just trying to figure out how to fix their web site? Well, let’s just say I sometimes get a lot of weird looks. So, when I start thinking this way, that people aren’t ready for these philosophical and physical changes to the way we do things, then I think about Steve Jobs, who said, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them”. As a teacher and a consultant, I get that it’s my job to help people understand what they need. But it’s got to be baby steps. Asking people to take huge philosophical leaps makes them run for the hills more often than not. I believe in the one screen world. But I don’t believe we are there yet. Why? Not because technology isn’t there, but because most people just aren’t there yet. The average person has bigger fish to fry first, not the least of which is overcoming their fears and concerns about technology in the first place. Then, they need to get to a place where they can understand enough about how it all works that they develop a comfort level with using it – in their own lives, their work, and so on. Typing a blog post into a tiny 2 inch screen at 1:00 am makes me the exception, not the rule. And the irony of what I’m doing is not lost on me either (this, after all, is my most important screen at the moment, thereby proving Mitch’s point.) But I feel like we are going to be in this, what Mitch calls in his book, “purgatory” for some time yet, while the rest of the world catches up, and to me, that’s okay. I don’t want to scare the people who are still trying to understand if Twitter or a blog is a fit for the way they tell their stories. I’m afraid that if I jump ahead too fast, then they will freak out and run the other way and never come back. I am okay with helping people to create social media strategies or web site strategies or video strategies right now, with an eye to what their future may hold in terms of mobile and the new one screen era we are in. We will get there in time. We are not there yet. As for me, I’ll continue to hop from important screen to important screen, day and night. I’ll work
Being An Optimist is About More Than Just Making Lemonade
It’s been a month. 4 weeks ago, I cracked my ribs in an unfortunate and very non-heroic shower accident. 2 weeks ago, we had to quickly move back into a home office situation for reasons too complex to discuss in one blog post. Last weekend, my husband and I were sideswiped by a transport truck on the Interstate in the middle of Indiana. They say things come in threes, right? Well, that’s been my three for the past little while. All that while work is busier than ever, my hubby and I are trying to get going on our house renovations, and I’m trying to get in shape. People have always considered me an optimist, and while it’s true that I generally try to roll with the punches (the odd bout of anxiety aside), at times like this, it puts my optimism to the test. It’s been an overwhelming, at times emotional, and thought provoking few weeks. But there are a number of things I’ve realized through it all. Here’s the short list: Regardless of all the physical pain I’ve felt in the past several weeks, it’s nothing compared to what some people have to go through daily. I am healing. I will make it back to the gym soon. I had to deal with doctors and x-rays and painkillers and I didn’t have to pay one cent for that because I live in Canada. I am fortunate. I am incredibly fortunate to have the best business partner in the world, the greatest team (go Team Jester!), the most supportive husband, parents, brother and extended family I could ever ask for. They have been flexible, smart, and have kept things moving forward in spite of the chaos. I’m loved, and I love. Nobody was hurt in the car accident. Everyone who has been involved, from the other driver to the State Trooper to my insurance company have been helpful, friendly, kind and calming. It could have been so much worse and we are incredibly lucky to have walked away with nothing more than a banged up Saturn. Hell, I’m just lucky that I have a car to drive most days – I know it’s a luxury that a lot of people can’t afford. It might be old and not even have power windows, but it’s mine and I paid for it with my own hard earned money. I’m so fortunate to have that opportunity. Sometimes the challenges of day to day life can get the best of us. When I’m online I see it quite often; people complaining because they were cut off in traffic, because they got to their son’s soccer practice only to find out it had been cancelled, or because their boss is a jerk. All of those things are stressful. The things I’ve gone through in the past few weeks are stressful. But they are nothing compared to what most of the people on this planet are going through right now. People tout the “power of positive thought” all the time. But sometimes it’s hard to think positive, especially when you’re in the midst of stressful and chaotic things, and ESPECIALLY when you’re in pain of any sort. But the truth is, making lemonade from the lemons in your life can be hard work. It takes conscious effort and presence to turn a negative into a positive, to not dwell on the bad, and to move forward through adversity to get to the other side. Optimism is the harder road to follow. It’s easy to log into Facebook and bitch about how life has done you wrong. It’s simple to whine and moan to your coworkers. It’s a lot harder to examine the adversity in your life and find the good. But trust me, when you do, you’ll be in a much better place. Because lemonade tastes a lot better than lemons, don’t you think? How do you deal with adversity?
2 Smart Ways To Manage Your Online Reputation
Earlier this week, I wrote about online reputation and how important it is that you manage yours. Because the conversations will go on whether you’re there or not, and if you don’t respond appropriately, you could be in for a world of pain and a long recovery. The hard truth is, if you’re in any kind of business today, then you’re going to have to pay attention to what’s being said online. Period. Moreover, you’re going to have to find ways to participate in the conversation, so that you can ensure that the record is set straight when it needs to be, and that people who are saying good things about you can be commended (so they will continue to say good things!). While it would be impossible to talk about ALL of the things you need to do to manage your reputation online in one short blog post, here are three ways you can get started. The Preemptive Strike We all know the old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, right? Well the same holds true when your online reputation is at stake. In my last post I talked about setting up listening posts like Google Alerts and Twitter Searches, so you’ll know the instant someone is talking about you (good or bad). But there’s a way you can go deeper with this technique. Don’t stop at searching for mentions of your business specifically – set up keyword searches around your whole industry, and monitor those too. You’ll quickly discover trends and conversations that are affecting the industry as a whole, and you’ll be able to identify a broader set of concerns or kudos. If you see an industry-related trend starting to form on various channels, consider how you might go about solving the problem. Don’t just reply with a link to your web site – that’s spammy and will do you more harm than good. Rather, consider writing a thoughtful blog post about the subject and offer some concrete solutions. This positions you as having some expertise in the subject, and your transparency around acknowledging there are issues helps to build trust. So listen, and make that pre-emptive strike. Be solution oriented if there’s a problem, and grateful if good things are being said. Make Sure There’s Somebody Home The worst thing an organization can do is set up social media channels and then leave. If you’re going to take the plunge into blogging, Twitter, Facebook and the like, then you need to set up a plan to ensure that there’s somebody home. I’m not saying you need to be ready to respond 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but you do need to make sure you’re monitoring and responding to comments in a timely fashion. Nothing is more frustrating to an already frustrated customer than reaching out online only to get no response. That makes them more likely to get even more frustrated – and the last thing you need on your Facebook page is an irate customer. Keep tabs on your feeds by setting up notifications on your smart device or email notifications. Then you’ll know the minute someone comments, you can gauge your response and reply accordingly. I also recommend posting Terms of Engagement on your web site and linking to them on your social networks. Set the expectation with people as to when they can anticipate a reply from you, and also outline what is deemed acceptable conduct. That way you always have recourse (i.e. removing a post) if someone breaks your rules. Sometimes, a detractor will come along. In fact, it will most likely happen to you at some point. If you want some great tips on how to deal with this, I defer to my friend Jason Falls, and his great post on Dealing With Detractors. The truth is, it’s only a matter of time before someone disagrees with you online. That’s the nature of the beast – we are all able to express our opinions now, wherever and however we want. The best way to ensure that you don’t become the next United Breaks Guitars is to be aware. Understand and accept that the conversations are going to go on whether you’re there or not. If you choose to listen, and participate where appropriate, then you’ll be able to improve your reputation over time. But sticking your head in the sand is a sure fire way to do more damage. Which path will you choose? ***Shameless self promotion warning*** I’m really fired up to be pitching a session at South By Southwest Interactive next year, with my esteemed colleagues and wonderful friends, Martin Waxman, CEO of Martin Waxman Communications, and Mary Pretotto, Director of Social Media Community & Intelligence at Rogers Communications. Our session is titled, “You Suck! How Reputation Can Make or Break a Brand”, and in it we’ll be discussing the good, the bad and the ugly of reputation management, and providing some real life examples of how you can apply skills you already have to maintaining and building your reputation online. It’s going to be a pile of fun, and we’d be honoured if you’d pop by the SXSWi Panel Picker and gave us a vote! Thanks for your support!
What’s the Big Deal About Online Reputation?
When I ask my students and clients why they’ve been reluctant to get involved with social media, their answer is almost always the same. “We’re afraid of putting ourselves out there in the public eye, for fear people might say bad things about our organization.” Social media creates a kind of funny catch-22, doesn’t it? We know that it’s a great way to spread the word, build communities and promote ourselves and our businesses, but by creating spaces online where people can become part of our community, we’re opening ourselves up to the potential for criticism and even outright bashing. For many organizations, it seems easier to shrink away from exposing ourselves that way – it’s a lot safer, right? Not so fast. One of the most dangerous things we can do for our brand is hide our heads in the sand. By turning away from the conversations that are already going on about you online, you’re setting yourself up for much more than just the odd critique. You’re potentially doing real damage to your reputation. Online reputation IS a big deal, and as business owners, we need to take responsibility for this reality. If nothing else, we need to be aware that people ARE talking about us online, even if we don’t have our own channels set up. There are some pretty famous examples of companies who’ve gotten into a lot of hot water because they failed to properly manage their online reputation. Probably the most famous is “United Breaks Guitars”. You can read the whole story here, but suffice it to say that, because a) United Airlines was unaware that they had an unhappy customer with access to musicians, a video camera and YouTube, and b) that musician created a video vocalizing his concerns that went viral around the world, United ultimately had some pretty big PR damage control to contend with. A more recent example is the now infamous meltdown of the owners of Amy’s Baking Company. After Gordon Ramsay walked out on the owners of this restaurant, believing they are beyond help, they completely lost it on Facebook for the world to see, doing potentially irreparable damage to their brand and their business. As these examples attest to, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a huge, publicly traded corporation, or a small mom-and-pop shop business, failure to manage your online reputation can land you in all sorts of hot water. Even if you’re not interested in becoming active on social media right now, you can start the process of at least monitoring your reputation online. Listening is the first and most important step of any social media strategy, and it doesn’t have to cost much to get rolling. Do you own a restaurant? Just Google your restaurant name with the word “reviews” after it. You may well find that people have talked about you on their blogs, or left a review on Yelp.com. Save that search using a free Google Alert, and from this point forward, you’ll get an email the minute someone mentions you online. Don’t have a Twitter account? That’s okay. You can search all public posts on Twitter using the Twitter Search page. If you’re a not-for-profit organization, this can be invaluable. Not only can you search your organization name for mentions, but you can search for keywords find out what people are saying in general about your cause. (Tip: this works just as well for any kind of business – just search for your name, and for some industry keywords – you’ll be amazed at the conversations that are going on!). Just setting up these two simple things can open a whole world to you. Students and clients that I work with are always surprised at what pops up when they do a Google search on their name. Don’t assume nobody’s talking about you. The Internet is a big place. Assume that there’s always the possibility that someone IS talking about you. By listening in, you’ll know immediately when they are. Then the only thing left is figuring out what to do about what people are saying – more on that in my next post. Have you had any experiences with managing your online reputation or that of your organization? Please feel free to share your story in the comments. Oh, by the way… I’m really fired up to be pitching a session at South By Southwest Interactive next year, with my esteemed colleagues and wonderful friends, Martin Waxman, CEO of Martin Waxman Communications, and Mary Pretotto, Director of Social Media Community & Intelligence at Rogers Communications. Our session is titled, “You Suck! How Reputation Can Make or Break a Brand”, and in it we’ll be discussing the good, the bad and the ugly of reputation management, and providing some real life examples of how you can apply skills you already have to maintaining and building your reputation online. It’s going to be a pile of fun, and we’d be honoured if you’d pop by the SXSWi Panel Picker and gave us a vote! Thanks for your support!
Banning Cell Phone Use in Classrooms is The Wrong Approach
I don’t often use this blog to criticize, but occasionally I come across an issue that really grinds my gears. This week, Ontario’s elementary school teachers (that’s grades K through 8) have voted to ban cell phones in classrooms. Why? Well they don’t come right out and say it, but primarily because it’s seen as a distraction. Oh, and because of some unproven theories that the radiation generated from mobile devices might be dangerous, so it’s a potential safety threat. So, the first thing some people may think is, what’s an elementary school student doing with a cell phone, anyway? Well, plenty of pre-teens have them these days, and that’s just a fact of life. And, the ban is not just on “cell phones”, it appears to be extended to all mobile devices (since, with the right apps, any device can make phone calls). So that means if your kid has an iPod touch or an iPad or some other smart phone or tablet, those are banned too. Education has changed…for the better Mobile devices have been shown to be extremely beneficial to students in learning environments. This article from Scholastic, one of the leading educational publishing companies in the world, describes in detail the tangible benefits that students are getting from use of technology in the classroom – everything from learning languages to history to helping autistic students communicate more effectively. Technology has fundamentally changed the way kids learn, and it’s going to continue to do so. The problem is, there’s a huge gap between what kids are seeing as a useful way to learn and what teachers are seeing as a grave threat to the way they’ve always done things. I only have to spend about 20 minutes watching my elementary school-age nephews interact with their devices to see that their brains are wired differently than ours. When I was their age, and wanted to learn how to do something new, I would look it up in a book, and sometimes it would take me a long time, because following written instructions can be complicated. And even then, I’d only be shown one way of doing things. When my nephews need to learn something new (such as building a robot for the science fair, which my 12 year old nephew has done), they go to YouTube. They see a variety of videos, all with different approaches. They can see close up exactly how something works, and then can replicate it themselves, incorporating the many ideas they have exposure to into building something even better. Their world is so much larger than ours was, and in that larger world there are infinite possibilities. Taking away their ability to seek out and learn from that big world of things is dangerous. Because of technology, my nephews are inherently curious. When my younger nephew was interested in dinosaurs a few years ago, he was able to go online and learn everything possible about them – from Wikipedia to interactive sites, he was able to develop a bit of expertise about them. He was 7 years old at the time, and he knew more about dinosaurs than I’ve learned in 43 years. That’s remarkable. But…mobile devices are distracting! They must be evil! Yes, mobile devices can be a distraction in the classroom. I taught college in a computer lab for many years, and I can tell you from first hand experience that classroom management when the distraction of Tumblr is right in their teenage faces is a huge challenge. It is not news that kids are easily distracted. But I’ve never looked at technology as a threat. Instead, I showed my students how they could use the devices they have access to for actual learning (and yes, when you’re done, you can play on Facebook later). I flipped my classroom, and suddenly YouTube and WordPress were learning tools, not distractions. Banning the use of mobile devices in the classroom is the 21st century equivalent of teachers hiding their heads in the sand. Making technology into a problem that needs to be solved is not only wrong, but it’s extremely harmful to the students you say you are working so hard to give a good start to. Don’t ban technology. Learn how to use it yourself to facilitate a more robust and deep learning experience for your students. Stop being afraid that technology is a threat to your job and start doing your job in a refreshing new way – become a facilitator, a coach, and a mentor to your students instead of just a spewer of information. (Here’s a hint – they’re not listening to you when you’re spewing information anyway.) The addition of mobile devices to a classroom IS a distraction. But it’s up to you as a teacher to figure out how you’re going to manage that distraction, by teaching students responsible use in the classroom – that means safety, it means using the device appropriately for learning, and giving them time to just “play”, too. Find tools that will benefit and augment their learning, and figure out some creative ways to leverage online and offline activities to make learning fun and engaging. Is it more work? Yes, it is, and I know that is a cause of concern for many teachers. But we are in the midst of a revolution, and you’re not going to wake up tomorrow and it will all be back to normal. This IS normal now. Banning mobile devices in the classroom is book banning of the 21st century. It’s being done out of fear and a lack of understanding and nothing else. Perhaps the teachers’ unions should be spending more time educating their members about the new reality of education than fear mongering. Technology is not bad. Fear is bad. And ultimately, it’s because of that fear that our kids are going to be the ones who lose.